"What did you do to her?" Bobby looked at Mystique lying limply on the ground. The girl's golden hair was scattered across the dirt, and she stared blankly at the sky, looking as if her spirit had been hollowed out.
"Obviously," Renzo said, stepping over Mystique's body and slowly walking toward Bobby, "some of you are being controlled. Professor Charles noticed long ago that there was a mole among the heroes, so he sent you poor children here first, partly to take refuge."
Renzo's spiritual light shone over the mutants like a mother's warm embrace, gently soothing their inner wounds.
Bobby felt a beam of warm light pass through his cold body, and the cloud of sadness hidden deep in his heart began to dissipate. Those painful memories and strange gazes were illuminated by the light as well, and the heavy fog inside him gradually thinned.
"It's comfortable, isn't it? It removes all negative emotions and leaves behind a pure self."
Bobby lowered his head and ignored Renzo's teasing. He stared at his girlfriend curled up in his arms like a kitten. The tears at the corners of her eyes were clearly visible, and her body was trembling slightly. It was obvious that Renzo had left a tremendous psychological shadow on her just now, one strong enough to frighten even Rogue, who had never feared much of anything.
Rogue was an extremely tough girl. She had eaten and lived with Wolverine, played around with Juggernaut, and witnessed her boyfriend Bobby die in front of her. She had still been able to shoulder the great responsibility of reversing the future of mutants... All of her experiences showed that this girl was extraordinarily resilient.
But now, Renzo had truly broken her guard. She looked like a homeless kitten pitifully searching through a trash can for unwanted food, her thin body unable to withstand the blows of wind and rain. She could only keep avoiding the bites of vicious dogs, hiding her scars in the roadside grass while waiting for some kind-hearted person to take her home.
Renzo actually had not done much. Instead of defeating them one by one, it was better to directly use the most terrifying dark power to defeat them from the depths of their hearts, subduing them without drawing any more blood.
After the battle with Chthon, Renzo's entire body had been left in a terrible state, especially the Black Lantern Ring. Riptide, Corvus Glaive, and Proxima Midnight—the three Black Lantern zombies—had all been damaged in Chthon's hands. He had absorbed enough undead and death energy on Thanos's battlefield and used it all against Hades, but in the end, he had barely managed a thirty-seventy split.
The power of extradimensional gods was immeasurable, and the vessels that carried their power were far beyond what so-called superheroes could resist.
The Phoenix Force, chaos magic, and the power of the fae were among the strongest and most versatile forces in the universe.
The power of the Black Lantern Ring was not inferior at all. Its creator, Nekron, was also a top-tier supervillain in the DC universe. The Black Lantern Corps was the strongest legion independent of the Seven Lantern Corps. Users of the Black Lantern Ring could stimulate the emotions buried in an enemy's heart and torture their mind, thereby absorbing energy and turning it to their own use.
Renzo had used the Mind Stone's illusions, combined with the deathly fear of the Black Lantern Ring, to create an extremely realistic illusion that descended into the minds of several X-Men.
In Rogue's mind, the undead and vicious figure of Nekron loomed, constantly deepening the most terrifying impressions buried in her heart.
And it was not limited to what Rogue herself had experienced so far. Because it was an illusion created by Renzo, the X-Men stories from his own memories were revealed as well. Rogue being hunted, the massacre carried out by Sentinel robots, the desperate situation of reversing the future, the end of the mutants... Tragic scene after tragic scene kept reappearing before the girl's eyes.
She saw her boyfriend killed twice by Sentinels. She saw her companions pierced through the chest one after another by giant robots. Bishop, Storm, Blink, Erik... everyone died in extremely tragic ways.
The scene changed, and Rogue saw Apocalypse again, possessing the power to destroy the world with every move, easily wiping out the ordinary humans who stood before him.
Then came Jean Grey as the Phoenix. With a single command, Professor X was torn apart.
Rogue watched as her comrades, who had lived beside her day and night, died, resurrected, and died again. The chaotic scenes constantly battered her mind, and the frenzied images nearly tore her consciousness apart.
"Mutants... do mutants really have no future?" Rogue thought in despair. Even though they were now registered superheroes who could stand openly in the light, in the eyes of ordinary people, the word "mutant" was almost equivalent to "devil."
Because mutant awakenings happened so suddenly, they could easily cause tremendous damage. People were often accidentally injured by newly awakened mutants, and some even died outright.
Rogue had not understood it at first, but as time passed, this once-innocent child gradually took those social problems into her heart and began to worry about the future.
The blurry black shadow gradually stretched out its dark claws and caressed the girl's head, and even more tragic scenes emerged.
Rogue opened her eyes wide and saw a sight she would never forget.
A group of young mutant children were being hunted and attacked by humans. A girl with two steel claws extending from her hands, a tough face that resembled Logan's, and a small body led the children step by step out of the military's trap. X-23 crouched alone in a grove overgrown with weeds, using two branches to form an X, as if commemorating someone...
Unspeakable sorrow surged into her heart, and Rogue collapsed to the ground. Mutants... had no future.
As if still trapped in terror, Rogue hugged Bobby's body tightly. Those lingering memories remained in her consciousness.
Scott stood up and approached Renzo aggressively. "You killed Nightcrawler!"
"He was infected and couldn't be saved. If I hadn't killed him, more people would have suffered." Renzo was not frightened by Scott's accusation at all. He had already endured too much deception and distrust, and he no longer wanted to tolerate this kind of look.
To be honest, if he had not known Scott's character and that Scott was in the same camp as him, Renzo would have sent his head back to Professor X.
Besides, it was not as if he had truly killed Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler had been affected by the Red Hulk, and his head had been smashed like a watermelon before Renzo even arrived. Even if the King of Heaven himself came, Nightcrawler would still have been dead.
In fact, almost all superheroes shared one common problem: they lacked a clear understanding of themselves. They were confident and arrogant, unable to listen to other people's advice. They went their own way and immersed themselves in their own worlds, as if they were the protagonists and everyone else was a villain trying to stop them from protecting the world.
This situation was not uncommon. Basically, every hero's personal comic had moments like this.
It was like Reed cutting into Tony's brain to obtain the Knowledge Infinity Stone. Tony had created the White Can armor, hoping to keep everyone under his control. Captain Marvel had not hesitated to split the Avengers because she believed in a prophecy. Hulk had started a world war. Deadpool had slaughtered the Marvel Universe...
There were countless examples, and Renzo was too lazy to deal with these self-righteous superheroes. This was not the comic universe, and their strength had been reduced too much. With three Infinity Stones, he did not need to give face to any hero at all, except Wanda...
The power of the Scarlet Witch could not be measured simply. It was a power capable of changing the laws of reality.
Just like one plus one equaling two. As long as Wanda was willing, one plus one could equal three, apples could fly upward, and the North Pole could become the hottest place in the world.
Those bug-level abilities were almost no different from the Infinity Stones.
Renzo had easily forced the chaos magic out of Mystique's body, so Wanda, as the instigator, must have been able to sense it too. She might have already begun acting silently.
But the key now was that Renzo did not know how many heroes were being quietly controlled by Wanda. If the number was truly large, it would be a devastating blow to the current structure.
Renzo suddenly thought of a major Marvel event—Secret Invasion.
The Skrulls had disguised themselves as humans, replaced social elites and superheroes, taken over their identities, and moved around Earth in their place. They gradually mastered key information about Earth, infiltrated society, and when the time was right, overturned the world's structure.
The situation with those infected by the red mist was exactly the same as Secret Invasion. They were all hidden quietly among the crowd. When this huge beast was weakened bit by bit and its weak points were exposed, they would become sharp daggers hidden inside a scroll, waiting for the chance to kill with one strike.
"Have you met any other heroes who behaved strangely before?" Renzo did not continue arguing with Scott and instead asked Bobby. Both of them were prestigious mutants among the X-Men. Scott led the middle-aged generation, while Bobby led the younger generation. Both were future successors to Professor X.
But by comparison, Bobby, who leaned more toward peace, was easier to communicate with.
"No. The X-Men rarely work with other heroes." Bobby shook his head, indicating that he had not noticed anyone else.
"What about the rest of the X-Men? Not all of you are here, are you?" Renzo asked with a frown. He knew that the X-Men had suffered the most severe damage in the Red Mist incident.
Because Professor X had sensed the abnormality in the red mist through his mental powers, the X-Men had also been the first to receive the warning and the first team to enter the red mist to investigate. They had gone in spontaneously with passing street heroes to solve the problem, but because they lacked information, they had been almost completely wiped out.
Bobby lowered his head. The X-Men had suffered heavy casualties in that battle. Most of their original backbone had been wiped out. Now, it was estimated that only he and Scott could still fight.
Seeing the mood of the group suddenly become heavy, Renzo's tone softened a little, and he stopped making sarcastic remarks.
"Then don't go back yet. If Wanda senses that her magic power has been dispersed, she will definitely take action. That may cause other hidden infected people to attack you. If there are other powerful infected people inside... your lives will be at stake."
"The professor needs to be protected. We must go back!" Scott said forcefully.
"No! Don't go back!" Rogue screamed in horror. She arched in Bobby's arms and inexplicably copied his ability. In an instant, she turned into an iceman. Her pale lips exhaled a wisp of extremely low-temperature air, spreading wildly and freezing everything around her.
Renzo instantly opened a Power Stone shield to protect the others.
Bobby hugged his girlfriend tightly, and the cold air wrapped around them both. In just the blink of an eye, the two of them became an immortal ice sculpture. They embraced each other while frozen, as if only the two of them existed in the world.
Renzo looked at the two people hugging each other, but his mind could not help drifting back to those two years of life. He and Wanda had been so sweet then. They would sleep in each other's arms at night, pressed close together. The girl's breath was soft and fragrant, her ambiguous warmth tangling in his mind. They shared the same pillow, yet she teased him so much that he could not fall asleep for a long time.
Renzo waved his hand, and a spatial crack suddenly appeared, wrapping tightly around the two of them.
"What are you going to do to them?!" Scott was being held back by Bishop. Otherwise, he would have pounced on Renzo the next moment and bitten him like a crazed wild dog.
"As you can see, I'm putting them somewhere safe." Renzo unfolded the Space Stone. The crack was not a door to another world, but an expanded small space capable of supporting human survival. It was just like the storage rings in novels, able to hold a large number of items.
Renzo rolled his eyes at the man and ignored him.
Hill should be hidden now. The battle just now should not have affected her.
Hill...
Renzo's expression changed. Where was Hill?!
...
Two thousand meters in the air.
A stealth fighter jet flew toward New York at Mach 1.
Hill was handcuffed to the rear of the fighter with steel restraints. Bruises and redness marked her face, showing that she had been beaten.
In front, a figure identical to Hill was piloting the fighter jet, her expression numb, as if her soul had been sucked out.
Suddenly, the human skin peeled away, revealing the dark blue skin underneath. The short black hair turned into a ponytail tied behind the head, and her shapely figure became clearly visible.
Raven's eyes flashed red, and a smile appeared on her lips.
Hill was of little use to Wanda, but the things inside her head were of great interest.
Those memories contained S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets, its strategies for dealing with superheroes, and the permanent locations where many of them were stationed.
Wanda was very curious about these things. Although dealing with these heroes was easy for her, there were too many of them, and the infected people she had planted could only be considered a drop in the bucket. They could be picked out easily.
She needed a weapon that could quickly take down these heroes.
A secret weapon.
The underwater prison.
A place where the most vicious criminals were imprisoned, including Abomination, Rhino, Dr. Zola, Green Goblin... Many dangerous criminals were locked away in that underwater prison.
All Wanda needed were the coordinates of the prison inside Hill's head, so she had someone bring the woman to her kingdom.
New York.
Wanda played with the Ghost Rider doll in her hand. The gentle look she had shown the children was gone. Scarlet whirlpools bloomed in her eyes, as if she had fallen into a bottomless abyss...
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